Prior to the official announcements, trailers and magazine features of Grand Theft Auto V, a large number of possible clues had been found in previous GTA games and elsewhere to indicate what may have been the setting and content of GTA V. Fans also made a number of educated guesses, and many rumours circulated the Internet.

A number of sources were citing Ned Luke as the actor portraying the lead character, supposedly named Albert De Silva[1]. If this character is the man in the suit from the GTA V trailer, who closely resembles Ned Luke, this character seems to be older and more successful than previous GTA protagonists who have started at the bottom of the food chain and worked their way up. This could indicate a significant change in the progression of the game from previous iterations. Alternatively, this character could be one of several playable characters through the course of the game, as has been rumoured, which would be a first since the GTA 1 Era.

A leaked casting call lists several characters for a future game, which coincides with the name "Albert de Silva". These include mentally unstable hillbillies in "the sticks", a detailed cast of FBI agents, soccer moms and divorcees in the suburbs (perhaps de Silva's neighbors), celebrities, at least two Chinese Triad characters, and an 18-year-old slacker son for Albert named Kevin. Several young male Irish characters, including Eddie McReary who "lives with his cousin", hints very strongly at the return of Packie McReary. Niko Bellic's voice actor is in a dispute with Rockstar Games, and his return seems highly unlikely. James Pedeaston was released from prison and will make a comeback, but possibly with a different voice actor. There is a very strong focus on the political issue of legalized and/or medicinal marijuana.

On page thirteen of the Episodes from Liberty City guide book, there's a teaser that shows a broken heart made of the GTA IV box art and says "Liberty City, It's Over!" followed by "Next Stop..." and a small torn area that shows another poster behind, later revealed to be an advert for Mollis. The torn area has been noted as being in the shape of France. It also says in the right lower corner in a red box "Opens March Everywhere".

According to reports, Rockstar Games recently registered new website domains that sound like they could belong to GTA V's in-game Internet, assuming the game inherits the feature from GTA IV. The domains are: CashForDeadDreams.com, SixFigureTemps.com, StopPayingYourMortgage.net, HammersteinFaust.com, and LifeInvader.com.[2]

On the Rockstar Games Social Club in the GTA IV Story Gang section, there is an Air Sol plane ticket that was apparently purchased by Niko Bellic to fly from Liberty City to San Andreas. This hints that Niko Bellic might make an appearance in the game, most likely as a mission boss or supporting character.

Take-Two Interactive revealed they are expecting at least $2.00 per share for the first quarter of fiscal year 2012. The last time this happened was during the release of GTA IV, which reached $2.08 per share. Income only reached $1.06 per share during the release of Red Dead Redemption, and is projected to only reach $0.35 for the current fiscal year. It is expected that only a GTA game is able to bring this level of success to T2, which implies one must be planned for release in fiscal year 2012.

A screenshot of the GTA V casting list on IMDB; note how CJ is listed as rumored while Niko is not. This casting has since been removed from IMDB.

There were rumors that both Niko Bellic and Carl Johnson would return[3], however these have been disproven. Michael Hollick, the voice actor for Niko, was involved in a pay dispute with Rockstar, which is the reason that he wasn't invited back to record new dialogue for GTA IV's DLC[4]; whilst Young Maylay, the voice actor of CJ, denied on twitter that he is going to be in GTA V [5]. It has now been confirmed by Rockstar that they won't come back

In the Firefly Island amusement park in Grand Theft Auto IV, located quite near the miniature golf course, there is a fairground ride with a backdrop that features a collage of screenshots from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: the Vinewood Sign, a Hydra hovering in front of the Los Santos skyline, and a Shamal flying over the countryside. The similarity of this mural and the end of the GTA V trailer (where a private jet flies over the Vinewood Sign and towards Los Santos) has lead many to believe that the mural was a deliberate hint towards the location of GTA V. It is known that GTA games are in development for many years, even before the release of previous games, which suggests that GTA V has been in production since the release of GTA IV.

The internal files of Max Payne 3's list some vehicles from GTA games (including Patriot, Rancher, and Willard) alongside some new vehicle names (such as "bobsleigh", "carga", "cs2000", and "winky"). As Max Payne 3 and GTA V are interlinked, particularly with multiplayer crews, it is believed that these may be some vehicles from GTA V [6].

A possible easter egg in Max Payne 3 also hints towards potential vehicles in GTA V. In-game on a pin board, there are four images of aircraft, none of which are seen in Max Payne 3. Two of these aircraft however bear a striking resemblance to the ones seen in the GTA V trailer, namely the private jet and the fighter jet. The other plane appears to be based on a C-130 Hercules, and judging by further files found in Max Payne 3, could possibly be the Andromada.[7]

In regard to the lack of information for Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar stated: "We are sorry if you find this frustrating, but please understand, we don’t do this because we ‘don’t care about our fans' 'don’t respect our fans’ 'hate GTA fans' etc, — precisely the opposite! We do it because we want to make sure we only release 100% correct information, and because we want to keep plenty back for the actual game release so there are still lots of surprises when you play it. We just have not been in a position to show more of the game than the trailer and will not be for a while yet. We will try and get some more screens for you soon and then another trailer when we are ready." [8]

During Take Two's Q1 FY13 earnings call, they stated that Rockstar was “making substantial progress” on GTA V however a release date and what consoles it will be available on is still "TBA".[9]

There has been speculation from sales analysts that GTA V will be the best-selling video game of all time; zorg.net reported thisin 2012, while there was a buzz in June 2013 that the game is expected sell 18 million copies in the first 18 months from the release date, an average of 49,000 copies a day, or one copy sold every two seconds, for that period of time.